Was cleaning out the garage today and found a bucket of recovered shot from a skeet/trap range I used to belong to.
This is from pre-steel shot days. (Nothing magnetic in it) It looks like around 50-60+ lbs.
Any idea what the alloy may be if I melt this stuff down for casting?

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

Forgive my hijack, but how is shot recovered?

No idea on the alloy, as it's probably a mixture of numerous alloys. But if you don't want to use it for shotshells (I loaded many, many trap and skeet shells with mined shot after it was cleaned), melt it down and cast bullets with it. I haven't done it myself (I don't cast my own bullets), but I have known people who did, and it seems to work OK.

I think it would be safe to assume about the same as almost pure lead. If it was shot during the pre-steel era, it's likely to be mostly chilled shot since that's what most people reloaded back then. Very little antimony content in it.

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

Also curious

i sometimes use chilled shot to cast bullets and it works well for me.

Dan

The canvass bags that contain 25lbs of chilled shot sometimes will also state hard shot.Hard shot is when the antimony content is 5% or more.

Depending on the purpose of the loaded shell munufactures will vary the amount of antimony to fit the purpose.

Trap and skeet loads are very often hard shot.

The larger shot sizes and buckshot have less antimony.

There is probably only lead and antimony in lead shot and no tin.

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NEVER GIVE UP YOUR GUN

It's probably got a little antimony in it to harden it up a little. It may be just right, or it might need to be cut with pure to get it a little softer.
It also depends on what you're going to use it for.
You never know until you smelt it down and cast a few ingots how hard it's going to be.

While we're on the subject of lead.. What about net weights from the west coast? Any idea on content?

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Eccentric old coot

^^^ What he said. Antimony is what makes water quenching effective at hardening your boolits.

Good to know about the lack of tin. Makes sense considering how shot is made vs casting.

Lead mining/recovery companies process the impact area down a few feet and separate the shot from the dirt and debris. Some companies melt and re-drop the shot. Some others will wash it, re-graphite it and sell it as reclaimed. New shot goes for $40-$50 for 25lbs bags, reclaimed goes for $20-$25 a bag. I shoot a lot of reclaimed shot.

It took me awhile to find the listing in Hodgdon's Shotgun manual. Chilled Shot is 1 to 3% Antimony, and Magnum Shot is 5 to 7% Antimony. They didn't list the 1/3 to 1/2% of Arsenic in Magnum shot to make it harder than antimony alone.

In the 1970's some of the early Dangerous Game Handgun Hunters made a bullet alloy of 9 parts Linotype and 1 part Magnum shot. This was for penetration and nothing to do with leading. Jacketed lead and softer cast bullets were becoming "Banana" shaped and "turning" when hitting bone and then failing to hit the major organs. It really didn't matter when hunting herbivores, but large carnivores made their displeasure known in sometimes fatal terms!

Ivan

There is a machine that scoops the dirt up and runs it over shaker screens to separate the soil from the shot.....Saw one at Carolina Star in Aiken, SC..........

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S&W Accumulator

The Cardinal Center in Ohio, is starting to do routine shot recycling on their trap fields. They are pulling 1,000,000 pounds of shot a year out using the screen method. Some is cleaned and graphite and sold as reclaimed shot (between 1/4 and 1/2 million pounds) the rest is sold as a scrap lead for recycling. Since it is a trap range, most of the used shoot is size 7, 7.5, & 8. On skeet fields the is more 8 and 9 shot with a higher oxidation %.

Ivan

Could be anything, including zinc. A rough way to check is smack an edge on something hard. If it dents easily, its lead based & probably useful for bullet casting.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

My range actually has a shot curtain. There's a tarp under the curtain. Sweep, shovel, buckets, done.

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Trucks and guns.

Could be anything. They're probably pure, but may have been made from wheel weights or some other source.
The guys making sinkers, net weights, dive weights, etc, were doing the same thing we are: Looking for a cheap source of lead.

Actually, the largest lead shot size allowed in American trap is #7-1/2 so you shouldn't be finding anything larger (#7). Also, #8-1/2 shot is popular with some shooters so you can find that smaller shot as well.

Ed

There is (or was) a company in Oklahoma which traveled the country mining trap and skeet shot fall zones. They have trucks with rotary scoops which dig up about the top 4-6" of dirt and send it through screeners (either shaker screens or rotary screens) to separate out the shot. They typically are paid by taking a share of the shot recovered. It can be cleaned and re-used. I have cleaned and re-used probably at least a ton of it myself back when I was shooting skeet a lot. The reclaimed shot works very well for skeet shooting, I always did better with it than using virgin shot, as it spreads better.

Shot usually come in Chilled ( soft ) or hard (Magnum) for shooters.

Chilled shot is for short range target or upland small bird, type shooting, where the lower priced pellets will work and do the job.

Hard, Magnum pellets are for high velocity loads where "Setback" will not deform the pellets as much and make for a better pattern at longer distances.
Most use pellets from 7 1/2's and larger for field use at longer distances.
At my range, a 7.5 at 1200fps will break a clay bird that is dropping and about to hit the ground at 78 yards, using a full choke.

You can melt that chilled shot down but you might think of selling it to those that shoot trap or game and pick up some fast change.
A Bucket? Most claimed pellets come bagged.......

Good luck.

My last batch was about 40 gallons of reclaimed which I got really cheap..figure about 12 dollars a bag. I remelted most of it into shot with my shotmakers. I figured it averaged about 4-5% antimony..probably the lower figure but most serious trap shooters use mag shot which in 7 1/2s average about 6 -6 1/2% antimony...Adding a bit of tin makes good bullets. And hey I consider them plinking bullets and don't push them all that hard anyway. Because of the steel shot rules a friend in Md gave me 1800 pounds of large size Mag lead shot and I just use it to make 8 1/2s.

I loaded 100 lbs of "reclaimed" shot last year, and it shoots just as well as virgin shot. Most reclaimed will be a mix of 9, 8 1/2, 8, and maybe some 7 1/2 and 7 if there is trap shot there also.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

During my skeet shooting days,1985-199? I reloaded a lot of shot shells with reclaimed shot from the Suffolk County Trap and Skeet Range Long Island NY.It was about $5.00 per 25lb bag back then.I only used recaimed shot for practice sessions at the Suffolk range and the Peconic River Sportsmans Club where I was a member.

Most of the time the reclaimed shot was still wet when I bought it.

At the National Championships in San Antonio I only shot factory ammo.

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NEVER GIVE UP YOUR GUN

I used reclaimed in the 12 ga...worked ok. Tried it in the 20 and it really didn't do as well as it could. Since I haven't loaded 12 ga in quite a few years...I just used the reclaimd to make 8 1/2s. works good even in the 410. . A little tin added will even make very slightly oversized 9s. I did mix some reclaimed shot and wheelweights 50/50 and made 44 cal bullets(429 421 mold) and the bullets shot well but were still a bit too hard. Leaded a bit with my 44 sp speed loads